the beginning of the end
by professional ashes of roses
Summary: 'we face no consequence, this is the beginning of the end' / things are different; massie grew up in england and this is her first time in new york / claire and derrick are brother and sister by marriage / alicia and her clique rule the school / short story, probably 10 chapters / massington
1. uno

_"We think we've climbed so high_

_Up all the backs we've condemned_

_We face no consequence_

_This is the beginning of the end."_

**- Nine Inch Nails**

She stands there looking so out of place; she doesn't feel comfortable. Everyone seems to know each other, and she obviously sticks out like a sore thumb. Earlier in the day, she tried in vain to get her parents to change their mind; they were dead set on her meeting some of her new classmates. As much as she hates to admit it, she's changed. She was born in America, but the second she turned one, her parents shipped her off to England to teach her some manners. Now, she's thirteen and as graceful as ever, but she doesn't even know how to act in the States anymore. Are you supposed to greet everyone? Are you supposed to talk at the dinner table or wait your turn? Do you excuse yourself or just get up and leave?

A tap on her shoulder nearly makes her jump into the air and scream in fright, almost upsetting the glass in her hand. "Jesus Christ," she mutters and then realizes what she's said; when they were in the cathedral in London, the priest taught them to never use the Lord's name in vain. She fingers her cross necklace before turning around to face the person that touched her. "What was that for?" It comes out rather harshly and the blonde girl standing before her backs away a little.

"That came out wrong, I'm so sorry. My name's Massie, it's nice to meet you." She holds out her hand to shake the other girl's own, but she pulls her into a hug.

"We don't do hugs! Well, I don't do hugs. My name's Claire, by the way. I was on the lookout for you; your mom told me that you'd be standing here."

"Why did she tell you that?"

"Hasn't she told you? Oh, wait, that's me. My parents are the one's that your mom and dad will work for; I'm Claire Harrington. Actually, I used to be Claire Lyons, but when my dad passed away and when Derrick's mom passed away, Derrick and I were best friends so our parents got married."

"That's interesting." Massie racks her brain for words to say. What do you say to someone who has lost their father?

Seeing the confused look on her face, Claire throws her arm around Massie's shoulders and smiles. "You don't need to say anything. It's fine." She frowns for a few seconds before smiling again. "Let's go upstairs, I want you to meet my brother."

"Your brother is Derrick, I presume?" Massie asks as she and Claire ascend the huge stairs, all her nervousness somehow forgotten.

"Yes, it is. He's a jerk sometimes, but most of the time, he's nice. He's really into soccer, so if he starts talking about it, just nod and smile. It works every time."

"What works every time?" Derrick's voice startles Massie and for the second time this night, she's ready to scream. "Were you talking about me, Claire?"

She smiles up at him. "I most definitely was not. Anyway, Derrick, here she is. This is Massie, the girl that Mom and Dad were telling us about."

"Massie, huh?" He lifts an eyebrow. "What a pretty name to match a pretty girl."

Massie feels herself blush. "He's also a self-named player," Claire states firmly, staring Derrick in the eyes.

"I am not," he scoffs, winking at Massie. "I haven't dated every girl in the school."

"Haven't you dated every girl in the grade?"

"I haven't. Okay, maybe I have..."

Mass watches as they bicker back and forth. She's always wanted a sibling to fight with. And, to her, it's obvious that if they weren't brother and sister by marriage, they would definitely go out. Claire mentioned before that they were best friends before they became brother and sister. That is definitely easy to believe.

"Shut up," Claire says with finality. "Massie, let's go, I want to show you to your room."

She walks off, beckoning for Mass to follow her. She's bossy, but she isn't self-centered. It's nice. "Oh, and by the way," Derrick says, leaning into Massie's ears, his lips grazing her earlobe, "I totally dig chicks with accents." He winks one more time and pushes Massie in the direction of Claire, making her almost collide into Claire's back.

Claire grips Massie's hand firmly and pulls her along the hallway, passing several different rooms until, finally, they reach a door that's been painted dark purple. Massie loves the room already, even though she's never seen it. Claire pushes the door open and Massie walks into it. It looks exactly like her purple and green room back in London, except most of the regular furniture has been replaced with puzzle piece furniture.

She snaps out if her dreamy daze and notices Claire seated on one of the two beds. Two beds… "Are we going to be sharing a room?" Massie asks, sitting on the other bed.

"No, my room is just across from yours. This room actually used to be the guest room, where we'd come every Friday night and have sleepovers." Her face darkens.

"I don't mean to be an intruder, but, who's 'we'?"

Claire looks away but continues talking. "My best friend Alicia and I used to come up here and do sleepovers all the time. We were really close until she found out that Derrick was becoming my brother. She had a crush on Derrick, and, she thought that I was going to start developing feeling for him, even though he's my brother. So, she became distant and started hanging out with the wrong types of people. Now, she's the current ruler and alpha if the entire school. No one goes against her."

"I wouldn't blame her; Derrick is cute."

She ducks to avoid being hit by a pillow Claire playfully lobs at her head. "Don't say that. When he was my best friend, I didn't mind, but, now that he's my brother, it seems wrong."

"Don't be angry. It's the truth." She giggles and throws the pillow back at Claire.

Very soon, it turns into an all out pillow fight, and Massie is thrilled; she's always seen movies about sisters having pillow fights but she's never quite experienced it. They're so into the fight they don't realize Derrick enter the room.

"Guys," he begins, but his head is nearly taken off by a pillow thrown from Massie's hand. "Guys," he begins again, but, this time, the pillow hits him squarely in the eye, also from Massie's hand.

"Oh, God, my eye," he complains.

"Never say His name in vain," Massie mutters subconsciously. She fingers her cross once more and rushes over to Derrick. "I am so sorry, I didn't mean for the pillow to hit you like that."

"Just leave him." Claire collapses onto the bed. "He's being a sissy."

"I'm not a sissy; that thing clearly hit my eye."

As she watches them bicker once more, Massie thinks that her parents couldn't have picked a better family for her to get along with. Then, she thinks about how there's school again, and she tells herself that she isn't prepared. Nevertheless, she starts school tomorrow and she has to make a good impression (and probably take down the alpha as an added bonus).

* * *

this isn't really going to be a long story; probably ten chapters at most. it's basically about massington, but there'll be lots of friendship thrown in there. the reason for the title is that massie's meeting derrick is the beginning of the end of an old chapter in her life. she's had a shaky past with guys - it'll come up later - so, yeah. that's why. also, it's sort of hinting at their relationship, about how meeting him is the beginning of the end of the relationship, which just shows that it's going to be difficult.

leave a review, if you'd like. i'm not sure if it's edited or not; i'll check back later.

ox,

aly


	2. dos

And, so, the torture begins. The only thing Massie dislikes about her new environment is the fact that these people get up so _early_, as in, early at five in the morning, when Massie's systems aren't even functioning well. She's woken up by something cold trickling down her back; her first instinct is to jump out of bed, which she does. Thankfully, she chose to sleep in flannel pajamas, instead of her usual short shorts and see-through tank top; because, Derrick is standing in her room, a huge smile on his face.

"What is the meaning of this?" she splutters, partly in rage and partly in shock from the water still running down her back. "Why are you in my room at -" she looks at the bedside clock on her table, "- five in the morning?"

"Around here, we don't sleep in. Five o'clock is even late; we usually wake up around four-thirty."

"Sleep in? That's not sleeping in; that's getting the required amount of sleep to look beautiful each day. I'm sure I look awful."

"From what I can tell, Mass, you'd look beautiful anytime."

He smirks and leaves the room; elation takes place and butterflies soar in her stomach as she lies on her back atop her bed, closing her eyes and thinking about how deep his voice is and how good he looks, even at five in the morning. And, when she's done, she says her prayers and takes her shower, brushing her teeth, washing her face and in general, getting ready for school with the outfit she picked out last night.

When she gets downstairs, everyone stops eating and literally stares at her; there is surprise etched on their faces, even her mother's, and naturally, this makes her feel self-conscious. "Is it too much for a thirteen-year old?"

"It's fine, darling." Her mother resumes conversation with Mrs Harrington. Mr Block and Mr Harrington are nowhere to be found at the breakfast table; Massie slips in between Derrick and Claire.

"Is it that bad?" she questions as she grabs an apple.

"There's nothing wrong with it," Claire responds slowly. "It's just that you look a lot like Derrick's mom and Alicia."

"I look like Alicia?" Mass asks in disgust. Even without meeting her, she already doesn't like her.

"It's just something she might usually wear," Derrick amends, grabbing a strand of Massie's hair and twirling it around his index finger. "You look smashing, though, don't worry."

And, with those six words, her self-esteem is brought up and she waits patiently to get to school; she can't wait to show the school what she's made of.

**ϟ ****ϟ ****ϟ**

Down the toilet goes the idea for showing the school what she's made of; she's currently sitting on top of one of the stalls, trying to think of a way to bring down Alicia. Unfortunately, they wore the same outfit, right down to the matching English designer purse - apparently, Alicia got hers exclusive on the internet; might be a cheap knockoff - and Alicia had everything under control. Massie had never been in such things before; she broke down and ran to the washroom crying.

The perfect idea comes to mind; it's going to involve Derrick and she isn't too sure if he'll agree to it. He has to, because even he has expressed his lack of concern in Alicia. The words whirr through her head in a blur; the ones that appear most are jealous, kiss and Derrick. These three words chant in her head until the final plan comes to her. When this is executed, she'll have both Alicia and the rest of the school in her hands.

**ϟ**

"No," comes the final answer and Mass pouts. She's in the school's library, talking to Derrick, who wants, in no way, to be part if her plan.

"Derrick, please? You've kept on saying how much you don't like her; won't this be fun to do? Besides, she used to be your sister's closest friend; do you really want her to go on treating people like this?" She sighs and then gives him the saddest puppy dog look she can muster, even adding a little whine and whimper for special effects. One look at the face and he's done for.

"Sure, Mass, I'll do your plan thing with you. I guess it would be fun to get back at Alicia for all she's done to us."

She squeals - which isn't very loud because they're in a library - and gives him a huge hug; surprised, he returns the favor, but for a few seconds, because guys don't hug. And, when they break apart, there's a little blush on both of their cheeks; he turns away as though he's embarrassed, but, secretly, he's thrilled because he's never met a girl who makes him blush.

"It'll have to be big," Mass says, refusing to look at him. "It'll have to be dramatic. Which means that it can't happen tomorrow. Maybe in a few days."

"Or, it could happen at the carnival," he suggests, looking at his hands. "There's a carnival happening at the national park in about three days. We could get Claire to help us and we'll do it there. There's going to be a stage; we can do it there with a spotlight and everything."

"You're positive that Alicia is going to be there?"

"Yes, she never misses these things. After it happens, you're guaranteed to be the alpha of the school, because no one has seen the mighty Derrick Harrington kiss someone; though, I have been kissed before, just so you know."

"It's nice to know how modest you are." She smiles a little but she still doesn't look at him and he doesn't look at her.

So they continue talking about their plans, ignoring the bell that signals it's time to get ready for class. And, to anyone watching these two awkward teens talking to each other without once making eye contact, they see a boy and a girl who have started dating for the first time; when, in reality, it's a girl who has never experienced her first kiss and a boy who's lied about his first kiss. They still look cute together, which is what Kristen Gregory thinks before she rushes out of the library to tell Alicia; thankfully, she didn't hear anything they were saying.

* * *

here we go. beta'd by the amazing **sparkle filled hearts**. thank you. thank you for all your reviews on the previous chapter! :)

ox,

aly


	3. tres

Claire looks in shock at the two teenagers standing before her and tries to process what she's just been told. "Let me get this straight. You want _me_ to talk to Cameron Fisher, the school's technical geek, and ask him to devote the carnival stage spotlight to you guys on Saturday?"

"You have to talk to him," Mass says, a smile on her face. "I'm supposed to be with Derrick; it'll seem suspicious if I'm walking around with Cameron. Besides, from what Derrick has told me, he really likes you."

Claire rolls her eyes; nevertheless, she agrees to the plan. "What are you two going to do until Saturday, because it seems that I'm the only one that's doing something in the plan." She's only joking, but she really wants to know what the two of them will do.

"We're going to spend a lot of time together, starting tomorrow. If I'm going to pretend, don't you think that I need to know more about him?" Massie replies, smiling a little bit. She's looking forward to this.

"In that case..." Claire links her arms through Massie's. "We have to go shopping. No offense to you, Mass, but we have to replace a few things in your closet so that you and Alicia don't end up wearing the same thing again. And," she whispers, "I can tell you a few things about Derrick."

"What will I do?" Derrick asks, genuinely confused. Today's Wednesday, so he actually doesn't have much to do, except lie at home and watch television for the rest of the day, gorging on chocolate which isn't good for his body. "There's nothing for me to do."

"Just stay at home. Massie and I have some gossiping, I mean, shopping to do." She waves to Derrick and leads Massie out of the house. "We're going to walk there," she informs Massie. "It's going to give me some more time to tell you all about Derrick."

They begin walking towards the Westchester Mall, arm in arm, talking about Derrick. "What doesn't he like to be called?" Mass asks.

"He doesn't like it when people call him Derry, which, coincidentally, is what Alicia calls him. But, anything apart from Derry is fine. You guys definitely need to come up with pet names for each other - it's going to be totally cute."

"It might be cute, but, it's not like it's real."

"This is the most fun I've had in a long time," Claire says, pouting a little. "I need to get back at Alicia for everything she's done. She nearly read my diary out to the entire school, but Derrick stopped her just in time. She needs to know what it's like to be humiliated. Ever since she started hanging out with them, she just changed. And this will be the perfect opportunity."

Mass smiles at her and Claire smiles back. It feels nice to finally have a friend that she can talk to. In England, for the first few years, she was knows as the 'weird American', do nobody wanted anything to do with her. Then, the next few years were, to put it simply, complete pain. Even after establishing her Londoner accent, people treated her like an outsider. She was, technically, but it didn't mean that everyone had to treat her differently.

Suddenly, Claire's mood becomes foul as she looks into the distance; Massie follows her eyes and she sees Alicia and the rest of her posse heading their way. "Oh, for the love of all that is holy," she mutters under her breath.

"Hello, Macy," Alicia sneers when she reaches where Mass and Claire are standing; Kristen and Dylan – the two other girls in her posse – start to snicker loudly and give her a high-five each. Massie's confused. What is so funny about pronouncing Massie as 'Macy'? Nothing. "Kuh-laire," Alicia adds as an afterthought, throwing a disgusted look in her direction.

"Alicia," Claire responds with a nod. She tugs on Massie's elbow and whispers, "Let's go now. I don't want to contract whatever sick disease she has."

Massie giggles and Alicia turns to her. "Is something funny, _Macy_?"

"Yeah, there's something funny. Would you like to hear it?"

In spite of herself, Alicia leans forward so that her ear is directly beside Massie's lips. "NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS," Massie yells, causing Alicia to leap into the air in fright. This earns Mass a high-five of her own from Claire as they giggle together.

"I bet her accent is fake," Dylan comments, Kristen snickering beside her. "She's probably never even been to England." This riles Mass up, but Claire manages to calm her down, saying that she'll have plenty of time to get back at her on Sunday.

She manages to get Massie to leave, but not without Massie saying to Alicia, "Hey, Leech. . . Can I call you Leech? Of course, I can. Anyway, Leech, I'll see you on Saturday… with my date, Derrick Harrington." With that, she blows Alicia a kiss and walks with Claire to the mall.

"That was genius," Claire says. "And how did you come up with Leech?"

"You told me that you used to call her Leesh, so I just modified it. Saturday is definitely going to be a day to remember."

**. . .**

"Macy Block is so dead," Alicia says to her girls at their sleepover that night. "And how did she get a total _hottie _such as Derrick to go to the carnival with her?"

"Alicia, I have something to say," Kristen speaks up. "I now remember it. It's worth major gossip points, which might explain why Derrick is taking her to the carnival."

"Spit it out, then," Dylan demands, getting her iPad ready to document the points.

"When I was in the library today, I saw them sitting at one of the table. They were talking and it totally seemed like they were boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Five hundred points," Alicia says with no hesitation. "That's good, Kristen. I need you to spy on them and tell me everything that you can find. Dylan, you and I are going to try everything in our power to split them up. That bitch is going down, down, down."

* * *

hello. this isn't beta-read, there was no time. i have some news:

the way my school is, you have to write ninth grade exams (which is what i'm going into) and entrance exams for another school, which is waht i'll do in april & may. then, in these schools that you write entrance exams for, in the eleventh grade, i'm going to write my IGSCE, which isn't very common in the states, but my mom wants me to. and, finally, in the twelfth grade, i'm writing my SATs plus regular twelfth grade exams. so i'll have to study really hard, starting september, meaning that updates will be slow.

ugh.

ox,

aly


	4. quatro

Massie sits quietly at the window in the coffee shop that overlooks the grassy hills. She is surprised that a place like Westchester has all this green, but she's happy. One thing she misses from England is the greenery. She and her family lived in a quite secluded area of England – one could almost call it the _countryside_.

"Can I get you anything?" The rather cute waiter smiles at her. She's not sure whether to smile back – he looks her age, maybe two to three years older, but she's supposed to be waiting for her 'boyfriend', Derrick.

"Not yet, but thanks for asking. I'm waiting for someone."

"Sure." Massie doesn't know if she imagines it, but a flicker of disappointment flashes through his eyes. It's not fake – he really is disappointed. He knows that when a pretty girl says that she's waiting for someone, it's usually a boyfriend. As though to confirm the waiter's suspicions, the front door of the coffee shop tinkles and in walks a ruggedly handsome boy – probably more handsome than the waiter himself. He spots Massie and smiles widely; she responds with a smile and he goes to sit down. The waiter inches nearer to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Why were you late, Derrick?" the girl asks, and the waiter – Chris – finds himself melting because of the angelic choir that is her voice.

"I'm sorry, Massie. Coach ran practice a bit late, so I had to stay. I'm practically the most important player on the team, so I had to be there to support the team. Have you had anything to drink?"

"No, I was too busy waiting for you to get here. I don't want one yet, though, so don't bother yourself calling the waiter."

"What did Claire tell you yesterday while you guys went shopping?" Derrick leans back in his chair, but nearly falls; Chris satisfies himself by laughing internally.

Hiding her giggle by turning it into a cough, Massie replies, "She told me everything that I need to know. Don't worry, not all of it was embarrassing. I promised never to repeat what she told me, so your secrets are safe with me. Although, it's safe to say that you were an adorable child." She pinches his cheeks and he swats her hand away.

"That's not very nice. Remind me to have a talk when we get home. I have to ask you a question."

"What is it?"

"Waiter, I need you to come here, please." Before Chris can hear the question, a customer beckons rather violently for him to come to the table. _I'm coming, hold your horses,_ Chris thinks in his head as he walks briskly to the customer's table.

"Yes, Ma'am?" he asks politely, reminding himself he needs to make this quick or else he'll miss Derrick's question and Massie's answer.

"I asked for coffee with no milk, but your counterpart over there gave me coffee with a drop of milk in it." How she can tell that there's a drop of milk in it, he has no idea. What he does know is that he needs to hurry up.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, I'll fix that up for you."

Taking the coffee mug out of her hand, Chris passes by Massie and Derrick's table, only to hear Derrick say, "Thanks for answering my question, Massie. I really needed to know the answer." He squeezes her hand and she blushes.

"Damn it," Chris swears, earning himself a look from the elderly couple seated at the table beside Massie and Derrick. He walks behind the counter and refills the lady's mug, muttering to himself very profane words about her. All he wanted was to hear the stupid question that Derrick was going to ask Massie.

After dropping off her coffee – with a fake smile – he resumes his post as the eavesdropper of Massie and Derrick's conversation. She's laughing and he has a smug look on his face, meaning that he just told a funny joke and she's even more in love with him that she was before. From their body language, Chris deduces that they have been dating for less than a month; maybe around two weeks or so.

_Two weeks isn't that long_, he reminds himself. _You are Chris Henson. You can get any girl you want. Do you remember when you stole Mike's girlfriend? They had been dating for, like, three and a half months. You are the man. You will get her._

As he inflates his already huge ego, the door chimes again, and in walks a redhead with extremely curly hair. She is also pretty, but not _as_ pretty as Massie. One thing Chris notices about her is that she continues to stare daggers at the happy couple. Ditching his apron for a second, he slides into the seat opposite her and flashes her his award-winning smile.

"What's your problem with the two of them?" he asks.

"I'm Dylan," she blurts out, then covers her mouth as she realizes that he didn't even request her name.

He raises an eyebrow. "I didn't ask, but, sure, I'll take that. I'm Chris."

"My problem with the two of them," she replies, in response to his previous question, "is that _Massie_ thinks that she can just waltz into Westchester and steal the heart of the most popular person in the school, Derrick. The Queen Bee of the school – Alicia – has had her eye on Derrick since, like, forever, and it's annoying to hear her bitch about Massie. I just want Massie and Derrick apart so that I can live peacefully without Alicia talking about them _all day long_."

"You and I want the same thing, Dylan." She cocks her head to the side and he shakes his own. "Tell you what, if you're able to spy on Massie and Derrick and give me information, I'll eavesdrop on their conversation and tell you what they say."

"How will you be able to?" she asks.

"I work here," is his swift reply. "I'll just pretend that I'm serving the other customer. Do we have a deal?"

She searches his face for any signs of deception, but finds none. "Deal," she replies, shaking his outstretched hand.

* * *

**it's been long, hasn't it? ****warning:**** not edited, cause i just wanted it out there. i'm sorry this is so short - hopefully, the next chapter will be able to make up for it. i have a new idea in my head, but i don't want to publish it just yet. i might make it an original story. feel free to point out mistakes. until next time, stay safe :)**

**ox,**

**aly**


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